Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-09-15
WHEELINGAFFAIR
GOVERNOR FORAKER'S PA.
TRIOTIC AND ELO-
QUENT SPEECH. -
His Reply to Governor Wilson's
Insulting and Disloyal TRADE.

Ex-Attorney General HollinEsworth, Who
Was Present Throughout the Exciting
Scene, Gives . Graphic Description OF
the Whole Affair.
Special Correspondence.
CADIz, Sept. 5.-The Wheeling demon
stration will go down to history as one Of
the most remarkable events of this de-
cade.
The course that Governor Wilson saw
ft to take has certainly created a most
remarkable sensation in every quarter,
but more especially in eastern Ohio, Penn
sylvania and West Virginia. The Demo-
Gratis criticise him because he was so
stupid as to prance into the ring with a
chip on his shoulder and shouting, ''Some-
body knock that chip of, and then get
ting knocked out in the first round. He
is criticised by his own party friends for
so needlessly running against Buckeye
buzz-saw on his own premises A mighty
effort has been made by the Wheeling
Doodle crowd to hold Governor Foraker
responsible, when in fact Governor Will
son was the sole cause of the strife 1t is
needless to say that the Governor of West
Virginia would not care to have the expe-
rience repeated, and in the future will
wear a lamp in his hat with q view of
discovering what Instructions lie in his
pathway. The old veterans are greatly
elated over the success of Governor For
aker, and the able manner in which he so
gracefully did up the patriotic Gov
ernor of West Virginia.
Hon. D. A. Hollingsworth, ex-attorney
general, was an eyewitness to the whole
affair, and in an interview with him held
at his home, in this place, he gave your
correspondent the following account of it:
The correspondent asked:
"At the afternoon meeting did Gov
ernor Foraker in his speech say anything
calculated to arouse partisan feeling, or
drop any word that would justify any
such construction
In reply to this, and as an account of
the whole affair, General HoIlingsworth
said:
~ think not-that is to say, not unless
his remarks that the captured rebel flags
belonged to the soldiers Of the Union who
had captured them, and their disposition
should be left to them. His speech was
only such as q man so well gifted and
soldier would make at q reunion of sol
diers. Among other things, he said that
Democrats and Republicans agreed that
Lee surrendered to Grant; that the rebel
flag went down that this government
must be perpetusted, and that there shall
never be but one flag in this country, and
that flag the stars and stripes. No com
munist flag, no rebel flag, the stars and
stripes are good enough for all He COM
plimented the city on its non-partisan
decorations, and particularly indorsed the
one which read, God bless our Presi-
dent and said that he hoped the Al
mighty would bountifully bless him and
make him full of appreciation for the
various deeds of the old soldier.
Governor Wilson brought on the fight,
and, as it appeared to me and to a num-
Der of gentlemen with whom 1 conversed,
that he did so to set himself right with the
Doodle Democrats of the city, who were
evidently offended by his utterances Of
the day before.
"Sufice it to say that Governor For
aker, and the patriotic sentiment of thel
loyal states, was grossly misrepresentee
and mahgned by the executive of thr
state of West Virginia and on the soil Of
West Virginia, and that Governor For
aker, not having the fear of West Vir-
ginia's governor before his eyes, resented
the insult in most manly and patriotic
manner, and to the entire satisfaction Of
the boys In blue and other loyal citizens,
who cheered him to the echo.
'I was sitting on a lounge with Gov
ernor Foraker and Gen. Gibson, not ten
feet from Governor Wilson, when he was
speaking, and listened to him carefully.
Governor Beaver and Governor Foraker
had previously spoken, and their speeches
were unexceptional even to the most fas-
tidious Democrat. There was not par
tisan reference made by either of them.
1t fact, their speeches were composed
simply of pleasant generalities and COM
pliments for old soldiers and the hospi-
tality shown them by the city of Wheel
ing, and such remarks as are usual in re-
sponse to serenade.
''But when Governor Wilson was called
out he commenced regular political har
angue, which soon degenerated into gross
abuse of the Republican party and its
leaders. His abuse grew personal to Gov
ernor Foraker, and, among other things,
he charged him with coming into West
Virginia and seeking to stir up party
strife and bitterness under the pretense
of attending q reunion of old soldiers,
and that Governor Foraker might as well
understand at once that the bloody shirt
president had been elected in this coun-
try. Among the many patriotic utter
ances of Governor Wilson, he said that
he recognized no distinction between the
blue and the gray, and that they were
alike to him. At this point l remarked
that such sentiments ought not to go un-
challenged, and said that either Governor
Foraker or Gen. Gibson should reply
They each refused-Governor Foraker on
the ground that he had al ready spoken,
and that he ought not as a guest of the
reunion committee suffer himself to be
drawn into q political controversy. He
was, however, so indignant that he left
the room and did not listen to all Gov
ernor Wilson had to say. At the conclu-
sion of Governor Wilson's speech loud
calls were made for both Governor For
aker and Gen. Gibson. Governor Foraker
having left the room, urged Gen. Glib
son, who was still 10th to eSter into
controversy with Wilson, that he must
say something, If nothing more than that
the visws and sentiments Of Governor
Wilson were not those of the loyal men
who had suppressed the rebellion. The
calls for him to speak grew louder and
louder, until finally the old veteran weRt
out, and in one or two sentences COM
pIetely demolished Governor Wilson's
theories Of the war and the relative posi-
tiuns in history of those who wore the
blue and the gray. Among other things,
he said that the north was right and the
south was wrong during the war, and
that this fact and the distinction should
never be lost sight Of at reunions or else